Mountain News: Burlingame makes Aspen dream affordable

ASPEN, Colo. – Aspen’s newest installment of affordable housing
is now taking shape. It’s out on the edge of town, at a place previously called
Burlingame Ranch, which is what the 84 condominiums are also called. In time,
there will be more than three times as many housing units, mostly condos, but a
few single-family homes. Prices in the units so far have ranged from $100,000
to $500,000.

“What was once an empty field... is
now a vibrant neighborhood with children playing outside and their parents
visiting one another over beers after work,” reports Carolyn Sackariason of The
Aspen Times. “Trikes, bikes and barbecue grills sit on patios and decks. People
stroll the streets, waving at their neighbors and stopping for conversation.”

The design is what architects call “livable neighborhoods,”
with several clusters of multi-family buildings positioned around community
green space. Housing is arranged so that families and singles live together.
Residents come from a broad range of the Aspen workforce.

“The people who live here are the
people who run Aspen,” said Kristi Kavanaugh-Bradley, who is group sales
director at St. Regis, a condo-hotel.

Sackariason found people “living the Aspen Dream, with
million-dollar views, a close-knit community and an opportunity to be
homeowners in one of the nation’s most sought-after places.”

In Aspen, and increasingly other ski towns, affordable housing
is not just for beginners. Future offerings at Burlingame will be geared toward
those who make $50,000 to $100,000 a year.

Aspen Mayor Mick Ireland said that public officials realized in
the early 1990s that their original idea — affordable housing would allow
locals to save money and then buy into the free market — wasn’t realistic.
Instead, the affordable housing program has allowed people to move from
affordable unit to unit, as their families and salaries grow.

But given current funding, the rest of Burlingame will have to
wait. A real-estate transfer tax and a sales tax together generated $11 million
last year. But the average per-unit subsidy, including land costs and
infrastructure, was $62,500. Aspen residents this fall may be asked to approve
up to $93 million in bonds to fund several projects, including the remaining
two phases of the Burlingame project.

Chill lift, but hot beds needed

TELLURIDE, Colo. – Lift lines are almost non-existent at
Telluride, the slopes rarely cluttered, the powder skiing phenomenal for those
willing to do a bit of hiking.

So why would the ski area operator install a $2.2 million
fix-grip quad to add even more ski terrain?